title: Attachment avoidance predicts inflammatory responses to marital conflict.
abstract: Marital stress has been associated with immune dysregulation, including increased production of interleukin-6 (IL-6). Attachment style, one's expectations about the availability and responsiveness of others in intimate relationships, appears to influence physiological stress reactivity and thus could influence inflammatory responses to marital conflict. Thirty-five couples were invited for two 24-h admissions to a hospital research unit. The first visit included a structured social support interaction, while the second visit comprised the discussion of a marital disagreement. A mixed effect within-subject repeated measure model indicated that attachment avoidance significantly influenced IL-6 production during the conflict visit but not during the social support visit. Individuals with higher attachment avoidance had on average an 11% increase in total IL-6 production during the conflict visit as compared to the social support visit, while individuals with lower attachment avoidance had, on average, a 6% decrease in IL-6 production during the conflict visit as compared to the social support visit. Furthermore, greater attachment avoidance was associated with a higher frequency of negative behaviors and a lower frequency of positive behaviors during the marital interaction, providing a mechanism by which attachment avoidance may influence inflammatory responses to marital conflict. In sum, these results suggest that attachment avoidance modulates marital behavior and stress-induced immune dysregulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University 43210, USA. gouin.1@osu.edu
authors.forename: Jean-Philippe
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Gouin
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Glaser
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Loving
authors.forename: William B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Malarkey
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stowell
authors.forename: Carrie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Houts
authors.forename: Janice K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Kiecolt-Glaser
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D054541:Family Conflict / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D009769:Object Attachment; D012944:Social Support; D018454:Spouses; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000276:immunology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6